The Starfish Blog

The before shot. was taken before we moved in. There was a large tree (podacarpus) in the center planter, which was way too big for the space. Also, it dropped hundreds of leaves into the pool, which is never a good thing.

We switched out the heavy-feeling tree for a dual-trunk Robellini palm, which instantly made the space feel more airy. Then I added a few pots to each side. For pops of color I used plants with red and variegated foliage in addition to hot pink flowers.

The photos above were taken recently. Here are the planters when I first planted them back in February.

I also added some landscaping fabric around the planters to help keep the weeds down. Here is a before and after shot: